Hedda Sterne

(American, 1910–2011)

Biography

Timeline

Entered University of Bucharest to study art history and philosophy, but left after a year to do independent study

1932

Married Frederick Sterne

1938

Exhibited in Paris

1941

Fled to New York to escape Nazi persecution; met Peggy Guggenheim

1942 - 1950

Became the only female member of the Irasible Eighteen who protested The Metropolitan Museum of Art's policy toward American painting in the 1940s; appeared in famous photograph of the group published in Time magazine

1942

Exhibited with Max Ernst, Piet Mondrian and Marcel Duchamp in "First Papers of Surrealism"; the first exhibition of surrealism in the United States

1944

Divorced Frederick Sterne; became US citizen; married Saul Steinberg

1950

Named one of country's best artists under age of 36 in March 20 issue of Life

1957

Awarded Second Prize, Art Institute of Chicago

1960

Sterne and Steinberg separated but remained close friends; began to disengage socially with the art world, and led increasingly private life